Pandekager (Danish Pancakes)

Last summer I spent a few days in Copenhagen on my way home from visiting Greenland, and of course I ate as many delicious Danish pastries and treats as I could. And after leaving Denmark, one Danish dessert that I couldn’t stop thinking about was their pandekager, which are super thin pancakes. They’re kind of like French crepes, but with a hint of cardamom and vanilla. They’re also buttery and slightly crispy at the edges – truly the most delicious pancakes.

It was really hot while I was in Copenhagen, so I ordered pancakes filled with ice cream and oh my, they were so so so so good. But you can fill Danish pancakes with whatever you like. I’ve seen them served with jame, sugar and cinnamon, sugar and lemon juice, yoghurt and berries – the options here are endless.

I also love that pandekager are made with only a tiny bit of sugar, so they’re slightly sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. The main flavor here really is the cardamom (unless you don’t like cardamom and choose to omit it).

You can use pre ground cardamom, but it’s nowhere near as flavorful as freshly ground cardamom seeds. I use green cardamom seeds and crush them with a mortar and pestal right before making the pandekager batter.

When you whisk in the eggs be sure to beat the batter until it’s totally smooth. This way you won’t get any lumps later on when adding the milk (it’s harder to whisk out the lumps when the batter is thinner).

Try to set time aside to let the pancake batter rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. This lets the flour soak up the moisture and makes for a more even pancake. But if you don’t have time to let the batter rest they will still taste good, so don’t worry too much about it.

The amount of batter per pancake will of course vary depending on your pan size. I use about 3/4 of a dipper full. You can take your time when swirling the batter around the pan. If you move it in one even motion you should get a nice round pandekage.

The pandekager are thin, but they’re surprisingly easy to flip. They’re quite sturdy and hard to break, so if they crumple up a bit when you flip them you can easily flatten them out again and they shouldn’t break.

You might need to experiment a bit with the heat of the pan. Also be sure to properly heat up the pan before cooking the first Danish pancake. You want the pan warm enough to brown the pandekager but not so hot that the bottom will burn before the pandekager cook through. Flip the pancake once the top is dry. If the other side still looks pale instead of golden brown, turn up the heat slightly.

Add a bit of butter before cooking each pancake. This is actually more for flavor than to prevent sticking, as Danish pancakes are usually quite buttery.

The pandekager don’t stick too much to each other, so you can pile them directly on top of each other when they’re finished.

Usually Danes will sprinkle pandekager with jam or sugar and roll them up tightly to eat.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.